


Polaroid photos and an unrequited crush

by Pineapple_Woman (orphan_account)



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25563169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Pineapple_Woman
Summary: Photographs were always her favorite. She kept the ones of her sisters and her in a shoebox under her bed, next to the hatbox with the old ones with her parents and grandparents. Whenever she was feeling particularly sad or overwhelmed, she’d go back and look at them. But as of late, there had been a new box, a tiny little jewelry box that used to be Angelica’s, that had been filled with pictures of a certain brown-eyed-boy.Or, Elizabeth Schuyler has found herself infatuated with Alexander Hamilton. 24 hours in her life, as a highschool student and a massive crush.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens (past)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Polaroid photos and an unrequited crush

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is the first fic in a series of modern hamliza stories. Fair warning: it might be a little bit before they actually get together, but I promise it’ll be worth it, so just stick with me, yeah? Happy reading!

Eliza stared at the Polaroid photo, her fingers tracing around the silhouettes of her and Alexander. He stood in the far left, looking out at the sky. She was looking at him. Somehow, even the silhouette of him managed to be even more beautiful than the purple sky. 

Peggy and Laf had been there with them, watching the sky turn from the light blue to the purple and orange that had painted the sky in the photo. One of them had been the one taking the photo, and Peggy hadn’t stopped complaining about her never-ending need for more pictures for the entire trip. 

Photographs were always her favorite. She kept the ones of her sisters and her in a shoebox under her bed, next to the hatbox with the old ones with her parents and grandparents. Whenever she was feeling particularly sad or overwhelmed, she’d go back and look at them. But as of late, there had been a new box, a tiny little jewelry box that used to be Angelica’s, that had been filled with pictures of a certain brown-eyed-boy. 

Her sisters had never understood why she was so obsessed with the past. They’d always been consumed with planning for the future, writing college applications months in advance, and planning their weddings before they were even in a steady relationship. (Well. Eliza did the wedding one too, but that was the one exception to the planning vs reminiscing rule). 

Finally, after what might as well have been an eternity of staring at the photograph, she clipped it up onto the string lights hanging above her bed, smiling at the collection she’d acquired over the past few months. 

It was hard to believe that she’d only known them all for three months. It felt like yesterday and years ago that she’d gotten paired with Alex for the biology project and that he’d introduced her to his foster brothers, Laf and Herc, and his boyfriend, John. 

She knew them just as well as she knew her sisters. But the feelings she had for a particular member of the group were not very sibling-y. But Eliza knew the feelings were in vain. He would never feel even a little bit of how she felt. She knew that, but on some level, she kept hoping that maybe somehow, someday, he’d feel the same way she felt. 

Of course, that was unreasonable. He was dating John. He felt something for John. Not for her. Her mind didn’t seem to be able to grasp that. 

“Liza?” She swiveled around fo see Angelica standing in the doorway. “How was it with Alex?”

“It was good. He and I and Laf and Pegs picked up some McDonald’s and then went to the cliff.” She unclipped the Polaroid from earlier, as well as a selfie the four of them had taken and handed it to her sister, who smiled and handed them back to her. 

“That’s nice. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it. These essays are killing me.”

“I’m sure.” She laid down on her bed, her dress falling from her knees and flashing Angelica. 

“Anyways. How was Alex? Same old, same old?”

She sighed. “Yeah. Law spent the whole time teasing him about John, and pretty much it was pure torture.”

“I know. It’s only high school. This will just be like Andre and Tench. You’ll move on, or he’ll break up with John and you’ll have a passionate romance for a few months, and move on.”

“Yeah. I swear though, every time he brings up John it’s just- it’s like he’s trying to kill me.”

Angelica laid down next to her, stroking her hair. “That’s why it’s called a crush, Liza.”

Eliza hummed a soft “Yeah,” and closed her eyes, listening to her sister go on and on about how she would get over him eventually.

But Eliza begged to differ. She didn’t feel like she was going to get over him anytime soon. She felt like he would always be that one person for her, that no matter what, she would always feel something more than friendship. 

After a while of them laying on the bed, Peggy came skipping in, plopping down on the bed next to Angelica. “Hello Liza, Angie.”

“Hey Peggy,” Angelica said. “Eliza’s feeling a bit love-lorn.”

“I know,” she huffed. “I had to listen to her complaining about it all afternoon. Alex this, Alex that, he’s so cute, god I want to date him, you know, the usual complaints.”

“Shut up.” Eliza swatted in the general direction of her sister, eyes still squeezed shut. 

“Whatever. I’m sure he’ll come around, but I’m going to bed.”

“Goodnight.” Eliza sat up and watched her sister retreat out of the room, and sat still as Angelica kissed her cheek and left as well. 

They used to share a room when they were younger. She missed those days, of staying up late and whispering ghost stories to each other and talking about how they would spend their allowance. But when Angelica had started high school, she’d moved into the attic, and Peggy had decided that she too wanted to be independent, so she’d moved into her father's office and Eliza had been left in their childhood bedroom by herself. 

She’d tried to fill the space the best she could, covering the walls with photos and Peggy’s paintings, and adding a desk and bookshelves. It wasn’t the same as her sisters' larger-than-life personalities, though. 

Eliza stared at her reflection at her vanity, rubbing the moisturizer onto her face. It smelled like cucumbers and was cold, and she leaned back into the old wicker chair. She could hear her sisters squealing from the bathroom across the hall, and smiled to herself. 

Her phone beeped, and she glanced down it. 

One new message: from Alexander Hamilton. 

Alexander Hamilton: Hey! I was wondering if you still needed those notes from Geometry?

Eliza Schuyler: yes, please!

Alexander Hamilton: attachment: two images

Eliza Schuyler: thanks, Alex!

Alexander Hamilton: Of course. Had fun today, get some rest! I’ll see you tomorrow!

Eliza Schuyler: see you tomorrow! <3

Alexander Hamilton: <3

Eliza’s heart beat fast in her chest as she read the message. Simple, yet so cute and she couldn’t take her eyes away from it. 

She set her phone down onto the bed, sighing in frustration. Why, why, why couldn’t she get it into her head that he wasn’t ever going to feel the same way about her?

Eliza screamed, muffling the sound with her pillow. This. Was. Torture. She felt like she was going to break into pieces, her heart-shattering. 

The moon was casting a silver-like glow over her bedroom, and as she changed into her pajamas she couldn’t shake her fast heart rate or sweaty palms that had appeared as symptoms of her thoughts of him. 

His dark eyes were like pools that went on forever, with long curly eyelashes that made them stand out. If she could get away with it, she’d stare into them forever. 

“Goodnight Eliza!” She heard Angelica yelled from the outside of the room. 

“Night Angie!”

Flicking off the light, she padded over to her bed, curling up under the covers into a ball. Once again, her thoughts were consumed with Alex. 

How silky his hair looked when it hit the sun the right way and how his cheeks turned red at the slightest embarrassment, and how he never stopped talking or writing in that little leather notebook he always carried around. She’d always wondered what was inside, but he’d never let anyone near it, and any hope of reading it had long since faded.

Curse her biology teacher for assigning them to work on that wretched project together. Maybe, if she hadn’t done that, then Eliza wouldn’t be laying in bed completely lovesick. 

—

The next morning, Eliza woke up to the sun streaming through her windows onto her, and she groaned as the light hit her eyes. 

Covering her face with a pillow, she attempted to go back to sleep, but two minutes later, there was a loud banging on the door. 

“Elizabeth! It’s time to get up!” Her mother's voice was piercing. 

“I’m up, I’m up,” she groaned, rolling out of bed onto the floor with a thump. Her clock read seven am. Of course, it wasn’t even time for her to get up yet. 

“Elizabeth! Your sisters wanted to go get coffee before school, and you’re holding them up.” Eliza had never been her mother's favorite; that honor belonged to Peggy. Catherine Schuyler was a stern woman and did her best to enforce traditional values onto her children. Peggy was the best at this, wearing only skirts that reached her knees and dating boys with good grades and respect for authority. 

(This was sorely different for Angelica, who most would classify as the rebel of the family. She relished in wearing tight, short leather skirts and fishnet stockings that their mother claimed would make their grandparents roll in their grave. Angelica also had a history of bringing ‘bad boys’ home, slamming doors, and finding herself in detention or grounded for talking back to authority). 

“Right.” She threw on her uniform, shoving the white socks into her backpack as she brushed her teeth. Getting ready for school was a careful art that Eliza had mastered years before, to maximize sleeping time. Get dressed first, then pack your bag while you brush your teeth and hair. Eat breakfast in the car, and buy lunch. If she was in a good mood, she’d blast music while she was getting ready. 

That wasn’t one of those mornings, as her mother had woken her up an extra fifteen minutes before her alarm went off. 

As they piled into the car, Peggy complaining about a project that was due, and Angelica gushing about her newest boy-toy, Eliza still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. 

But after going through her bag, twice, checking her breath and her armpits for any stench, she concluded that nothing was off. Her mother pulled into the drive-through, and they all got their normal orders: Angelica got a black coffee with two extra shots of espresso. Peggy got a vanilla frappuccino and Eliza got an iced coffee. (For Alex. She didn’t like coffee). 

“I don’t understand why you don’t just get a frap. It’s so much better than that crap,” Peggy said, nodding at her iced coffee, which was letting out a considerable amount of condensation.

“It’s for Alex. I don’t like coffee.”

“It’s for Alex, huh?” Her mother said from the front seat, wiggling her eyebrows. “When are you going to introduce us, by the way?”

“Ugh, mom, never,” Angelica answered for her, and Eliza sent her a grateful look.

“I don’t even know who he is. Remind me who his parents are?”

“We’ve been over this, mom. His mom is passed away when he was little, and his dad left. He’s being fostered by Mayor Washington and Ms. Washington.”

“Oh, that’s right. Poor kid. We ought to have the Washingtons over for dinner sometime. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“Sure,” Peggy huffed, shoving in her earbuds. 

“Margarita Schuyler, don’t you use that attitude with me.”

Peggy took out an earbud and jitters an apology. Eliza sent her sister a sympathetic glance as they turned into the school.

“Bye mom,” Eliza said, leaning over the middle counsel to kiss her mom on the cheek. Her mother patted her head, and she and her sisters were off to face the day. She couldn’t help but feel a little giddy about seeing Alex. 

—

“Yo! Schuyler 2.0!” Eliza turned around to see Hercules running right at her, and she smiled and waved as she shoved books into her backpack. 

He leaned against the locker next to her. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Alex kept me up all night complaining about John.”

“What was wrong?”

Hercules sighed. “Honestly, I don’t even know. It was just nonsense. You know how he gets.”

Eliza nodded, slamming her locker shut and motioning for him to follow her down the hallway. “They’re not gonna break up, at them?”

“I don’t know,” He shrugged. “It sounded pretty bad.”

“Wow.” Eliza spotted Alex down the hall, who was having an animated conversation with John. She waved at him, but he looked at her and didn’t smile or wave back. She frowned. “What’s his problem?”

“Like I said. He and John are having issues.”

Eliza bit her lip, not sure what to do. She and Hercules stood and watched them talk for a while, but the bell rang a few minutes later and they both had to disperse to their classes.

The iced coffee ended up being thrown into the trash. 

—

“Pssst, Eliza,” Charlotte Antil, the girl who sat next to her whispered. “I heard Alex and John broke up.”

She gaped at Charlotte. “What?”

“Yeah. Something about John kissing some guy named Francis or something.”

“Really?” Charlotte nodded furiously, and Eliza felt her heartbreak. Even though she’d always liked Alex and wanted to be with him, she wouldn’t wish being cheated on to her worst enemy. 

“That’s pretty crazy.”

“I know, right? They always seemed so close.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyways. Half the girls here like him, so I’m sure that he won’t have any trouble finding another beau.”

“I mean if he’s not gay.”

“Please, Eliza. Everyone knows he’s had his eye out for Katherine Renesseler for a while.”

Once again, Eliza frowned. Everyone knew that? Hercules and Laf and Angelica and Peggy must not have, otherwise, they surely would have told her... right?

Charlotte continued spilling gossip to her, which Eliza took in with a grain of salt. There was no way to know if all of the stories that she was telling were true, and Eliza knew better than to blindly follow her. (See: The Carter Incident. There was no way she was making a mistake like that again). 

“Alrighty, folks! Who is ready for a good old day of learning?” Their homeroom teacher, Mrs. Adams, said, striding into the room, clipboard in hand. “Let’s start with a rollcall...” she glanced around the room, pausing when she noticed Alex’s empty chair. “Has anyone seen Mr. Hamilton?”

Charlotte raised her hand. “He went to the bathroom, Ma’am.”

Mrs. Adams nodded, marking something down on her clipboard with a frown. A moment later, when Alexander finally came in, she gave him a stern look and handed him the infamous pink detention slip. 

Eliza didn’t even bother looking at him, knowing he wasn’t looking at her. Why he had taken to ignoring her that morning, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that he didn’t seem to want to be friends with her anymore, and it made her heart want to shatter. 

—

Finally, at lunch, he sat next to her. On instinct, her heart rate picked up and her palms began to sweat.

“Hey, Liza.”

“Hey.”

“Sorry I haven’t been able to talk today much. I’ve been busy.”

“I gathered that,” she said, unwrapping the sandwich she’d just bought. 

“Don’t be mad. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m not mad, Alex.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?” She turned to face him, staring into his deep brown eyes. Of course, she couldn’t stay mad at him. How could she even try to stay mad at him, with eyes like those?”

“There. Now can you explain to me, please, what the heck is going on?”

He sighed. “John and I broke up.”

Her gaze turned sympathetic, and she had to resist the urge to envelop him in one of her tight hugs. “Oh, Alex. I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time coming,” he shrugged. 

“That doesn’t make it any easier,” she pointed out, and once again, he gave her a nonchalant answer.

“I guess so. I’m just mad he didn’t tell me about Francis earlier.”

“Who’s Francis?”

“Francis Kinloch. It’s this guy from his old school, and he has a crush on John. And now John seems to think that Francis is better than me.”

“Oh.”

There was an awkward pause between them, filled by Angelica and Lafayette’s banter (in French, of course, because what other way was there to argue).

“Alexander!” Hercules cried, slapping Alex on the back, making him flinch and cough up a bit of chocolate milk. Angelica shrieked away from him. 

“Hey, guys.”

“We heard about you and John,” Peggy said, sitting on the other side of him. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.” He didn’t know how to respond to all the condolences, so Lafayette quickly changed the subject to his ESL test later. 

For the rest of lunch, Angelica and Peggy both sent her suggestive glances, wiggling their eyebrows between her and Alex. She would glare at them in return, and then they’d be stuck in a never-ending nasty looks war, making Lafayette and Hercules grow more and more concerned for their health. 

“Eliza, May I speak to you?” Angelica asked, and Eliza nodded. “In private.”

She huffed, but followed Angelica over to where the trash cans were held, Peggy following close behind them. “What is it?”

“I heard that Francis wasn’t the only reason John and Alex broke up.”

“Yeah?” Peggy asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I heard it was also because he liked you.”

“See, I heard the same thing, but with Katherine.” Katherine was their cousin- their dad's brother's daughter, and she’d always had something of a complicated dynamic with the Schuyler girls. They’d grown up in competition: who could wear the poofiest dress, who could speak fastest, who could make the best cookies, who could read the longest words or save the most allowance money. 

A lot of people mistook Katherine and Eliza for twins. They were the same age and both had curly dark hair and thin, arched eyebrows, but besides that and the shapes of their faces, the resemblance was not there. Personality-wise, she was more like Angelica, and Eliza was more like... Eliza, for lack of a better analogy.

“Whatever. Guys, I’ll get over it.”

“I’m sure you will,” Peggy said, draping an arm around both of her sisters' shoulders and guiding them back to everyone else. 

—

The rest of the school day took forever to pass. But finally, the bell rang, and Eliza helped Peggy stuff art projects into her locker, and Angelica helped her convince her Latin teacher for an extension on an essay regarding Julius Caesar.

They exited the building, all feeling particularly proud of the day's accomplishments. 

Eliza wished she had her Polaroid with her, but she didn’t, so she settled for taking a selfie with her sisters as they exited the building and headed for the park where they did their homework with the other girls in their “knitting club.”

Of course, it wasn’t a knitting club. It consisted of the three Schuyler sisters, Katherine, Charlotte, and Hercules. When her parents thought her to be mending clothes for homeless kids, they were shopping at corner stores and feeding geese and biking down steep hills. If Catherine and Philip Schuyler ever got ahold of that, they’d had a fit. That was why the group was so small; to prevent the secret of their true purpose from escaping. 

“Elizaaaa,” Charlotte groaned, banging her head several times on the table. “Honestly. This is just impossible.”

“No it’s not,” she said, showing her how to properly do the equation. 

“Whatever, smarty-pants.”

Eliza blushed. Usually, Angelica was ‘smarty pants,’ Peggy was ‘beautiful,’ and Eliza was Eliza 

Maybe, finally, things were starting to take a turn in the right direction for Eliza. 

—

Eliza sat on her phone all night, waiting for it to ring. Any time her screen flashed on, she would grab it and stare at the screen. But it was forever the picture of her and her sisters and not the smiling face of Alex. 

She knew that if she called him first, he would pick up, and before too long it would be four in the morning and they would have fallen asleep on the phone together. 

But the numbers didn’t flow out of her fingers, and so she sat on her bed, reading another trashy romance novel and waiting for the phone to ring. 

Once and a while, Peggy or Angelica would come on and ask if she wanted to do something with them (usually involving the kid who’d moved in next door, who Peggy had found herself infatuated with). Her father came at one point to kiss her goodnight, and her mother came in to try and get her to eat something. 

The phone never rang. Eventually, she fell asleep, lights still on and sprawled out on top of her quilt.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! The next fic should be up in the next few days, but I’m a bit preoccupied with another wip so no promises.


End file.
